Silesian Voivodeship

For former provinces with the same name, see Silesian Voivodeship (1920–1939) and Administrative division of the People's Republic of Poland.
Silesian Voivodeship
Województwo śląskie
Voivodeship
Flag of Silesian Voivodeship
Flag
Coat of arms of Silesian Voivodeship
Coat of arms
Official logo of Silesian Voivodeship
Brandmark
Location within Poland
Location within Poland
Division into counties
Division into counties
Coordinates (Katowice): 50°15′N 19°0′E / 50.250°N 19.000°E / 50.250; 19.000
Country Poland
CapitalKatowice
Counties
19 cities, 17 land counties*
Government
 • BodyExecutive board
 • VoivodeMarek Wójcik (PO)
 • MarshalWojciech Saługa (PO)
 • EPSilesian constituency
Area
 • Total
12,333.09 km2 (4,761.83 sq mi)
Population
 (2019-06-30[1])
 • Total
4,524,091
 • Density370/km2 (950/sq mi)
 • Urban
3,468,527
 • Rural
1,055,564
GDP
[2]
 • Total€68.692 billion
 • Per capita€15,300
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codePL-24
Vehicle registrationS
HDI (2021)0.883[3]
very high · 5th
Primary airportKatowice Airport
Highways
Websitehttps://www.slaskie.pl/
* further divided into 167 gminas

Silesian Voivodeship (Polish: województwo śląskie [vɔjɛˈvut͡stfɔ ˈɕlɔ̃skʲɛ] ⓘ) is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia (Górny Śląsk), with Katowice serving as its capital.

Despite the Silesian Voivodeship's name, most of the historic Silesia region lies outside the present Silesian Voivodeship – divided among Lubusz, Lower Silesian, and Opole Voivodeships. The eastern half of Silesian Voivodeship (and, notably, Częstochowa in the north) was historically part of Lesser Poland.

It is the most densely populated voivodeship in Poland. Within the area of 12,300 square kilometres, there are almost 5 million inhabitants.[4] It is also the largest urbanised area in Central and Eastern Europe.[5] In relation to economy, over 13% of Poland's gross domestic product (GDP) is generated here, making the Silesian Voivodeship one of the wealthiest provinces in the country.[5][6][7]

  1. ^ "Population. Size and structure and vital statistics in Poland by territorial division in 2019. As of 30th June". stat.gov.pl. Statistics Poland. 2019-10-15. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  2. ^ "EU regions by GDP, Eurostat". Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Sub-national HDI - Subnational HDI - Global Data Lab". globaldatalab.org. Radboud University Nijmegen. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-08-16. Retrieved 2017-07-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ a b Śląskiego, Urząd Marszałkowski Województwa. "Województwo Śląskie - Śląskie. Pozytywna energia" (PDF). www.silesia-europa.pl. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Śląski Urząd Wojewódzki w Katowicach - strona oficjalna". Archived from the original on 19 October 2009. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  7. ^ Art4net. "The Śląskie Voivodeship". Archived from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)